Just For Him Ruins of Isengard

Tons of thick, delicious smoke! I thoroughly enjoyed the smoky taste of latakia combined with the caramelized sweetness this blend offers. It reminds me of marshmallows left a bit too long over a fire in that way. Room note is pleasing, moisture is great. This blend burns beautifully in my meer. I typically like my aromatic blends to be heavier on taste but "Ruins" refuses to be held back by my preconceptions. I really like this blend as a departure from my usual aro routine. I will be buying more of this smoky blend to have some on hand regularly.

This being myfirst foray into latakia anything; I will say wow what a wonderful intro. This is a mildly sweet incredibly smooth full smoke. While the sweet hovers and lingers behind a rustic smooth campfire smokey flavor. But this is not a hard smoke to the uninitiated it is an inviting, and again smooth comforting smoke. More mature in flavor than say a black cordial for comparison. The gentle almost marshmallow charcter of the sweetness is supported by a vanilla or honey hint. I can't place what Ruins is. Other than fun satisfying and a good smoke. Highly recommend This, and I may venture into latakia because of this delicious welcome. You wont be disappointed. Room note is wonderful, array and business like just good.

This has become my favorite tobacco- it has everything from both sides of the fence: high quality Virginia, hearty burley, tasty latakia- but still smells and tastes great like an aro too. My go-to all time favorite. I can't find another tobacco that beats it.

My favorite tobacco out there! Just amazing how the flavors and smells come together in this cool, well behaved blend. The smoke seems thicker than normal comming from this blend, probabley from better lighting and burning than most blends. The Middle Earth series is a masterblended series and not some cheap knock off from a movie in order to make money.

Couldn't resist--smoked a bowl of this last night while reading about the destruction of Isengard by the Ents, in a Savinelli Gandalf churchwarden.

I like this blend. I smoke aromatics, with a few drugstore burley blends as well, but this is a good cross-over for me. The latakia was very noticeable but balanced, no bite, lit well and burned well, only one re-light. I would recommend to aromatic fans looking to broaden their horizons. I have no insight into the minds of the non-aromatic smoker.

updated my review, room note is better than tolerable.

Delicious

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I am normally a burley man but this mixture is supurb and will be in my pipe often, may become my regular blend even. I has a soft creamy taste with a sweetness from the virginias but I never detected a casing or infusion flavor at all. I belive the dark cavendish is of the natural toasted variety. There is some Latakia in this but not strong, just enough to give it a toastiness. I smells sweet in the bad and the room note is wonderful. Like sweet fruitwood burning in the fireplace. This is the best of the middle earth series and in my opinion the best JFH blend of all..It tastes good from lighting to the bottom of the bowl. I love it!

STM was the first I tried in this series. I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd try the others. I was expecting ROI to be just okay, since it didn't get quite the rave reviews of STM. I was wrong; this is a subtle, well-balanced blend. Nutty and oakey right from the first light, cool burning, no hissing. All-around this is very pleasant. You can't beat the price. I'm impressed with the Middle-Earth Pipeweed series so far.

Okay--It seems like a lot of people head toward the Lord of the Rings tobaccos. But a name is just a name, and your tastes shouldn't be swayed by the idea of smoking a tobacco in a churchwarden pipe just because that's how Tolkien's literary characters smoked in the movies.

That said, this is a great blend. Not quite as good as Shortcut to Mushrooms (ironically from the same Middle Earth tobacco series from JFH), but different enough to stand on its own. It has a good, thick flavor and leaves a very pleasing aftertaste that almost commands you to relax. Give Shortcut to Mushrooms a try, but keep some Ruins around for it's more pleasing room note and social smoking situations.

I bought the sampler pack of the LOTR series from Just For Him about a week ago and randomly selected one to try. Opening the pouch of Ruins of Isengard, I could see rich black with light and dark brown ribbons that felt just right for smoking to the touch. An unlit sip revealed the taste of butterscotch and the charring and initial light were full of cedar, making me think that the Latakia was going to dominate. Surprisingly I was wrong in thinking that.

Overall the taste was of a rich, creamy butterscotch sweetness with the Latakia being very subtle in the smoke. Occasionally I would pick up traces of honey, and the dottle for some reason tasted to me like a cross between cotton candy and marshmallows. The room note was pleasant and the sweetness was satisfying, not overpowering.

I was totally in love with what little of this tobacco I had access to, but you can bet I will be buying more. If you are looking for a cross between a light English blend and an aromatic, then look no further.